


Aftereffect

by seventeensteps



Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: Drabble, M/M, Post-Kingsman: The Secret Service
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-04-06
Packaged: 2018-03-21 09:09:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3686523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seventeensteps/pseuds/seventeensteps
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eggsy always takes Harry's words to heart. When Harry said, "take care of your mum," he did. Still does. When Harry said, "stay right there," he stayed.</p><p>For a long time, Eggsy stays.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Eggsy always takes Harry's words to heart. When Harry said, "take care of your mum," he did. Still does. When Harry said, "stay right there," he stayed.

Harry also said that he’d come back.

He never did.

Yet Eggsy still stays. For a long time, Eggsy stays.

\--- 

It’s been months after all that ‘saving the world’ business. Eggsy’s become Galahad. He continues with Harry’s newspaper collection, and he’s got six so far. Not anywhere near the original amount, but he’s promised himself that he’ll collect as much as Harry had. It’s a lot, but not that difficult to achieve if he tries hard enough. It’s not like Harry's number is going up or anything.

 _Harry is dead_ , Eggsy knows this well. Too well. He is one of the only three people who were watching that scene through Harry’s glasses after all. He knows it well enough because when Valentine pulled the trigger, it felt like the bullet pierced through his heart, too.

Maybe it really did.

\---

Eggsy goes back to that house sometimes, although when he steps in and breathes the air inside, he can still smell the faint unique scent that used to be able to calm him down; ground him, but now the memory that comes with it makes his throat closes up and he has to brace himself against the cold wall. This happens every time, and every time Eggsy allows himself a couple minutes to collect himself before straightening his back, and continues into Harry’s study.

He sits on the chair behind the wooden desk, the same chair he sat when the gunshot rang in his ears. The familiar scent is even stronger now, and he unintentionally takes a deep breath, the rich smell making him dizzy and weak. Eggsy doesn’t really know why he’s here, sitting like he’s waiting for something to occur. The first time this happened, before Eggsy knew it, he was already seated here. The second time this happened, Eggsy half-woke up from the haze halfway through the walk it takes from his new house to Harry’s. He didn’t turn back though. He kept walking until he saw the house in front of him and with the key Harry gave him all those months ago, he got in, walked straight into the study, and sat down again. The third time Eggsy was more _awake_. The fourth, fifth, sixth, and whatever time it was after that, Eggsy just came here consciously. Every time, he sat here, doing nothing, stayed for a while—sometimes hours—and then stood and went home.

Eggsy tries not to think as to why he has to come here. He just feels like he has to, however irrational that sounds, and sits down for a bit. He knows Merlin’s begun to suspect something, but he doesn’t push, and for that Eggsy is grateful.

\---

One night, Eggsy has a dream. In it, he’s walking up to the black front door. He fishes out the key from his right pocket and unlocks it, with the swiftness that comes with repeating the same action many times. He goes up to the study, and like many times before, sits down on that chair, and waits.

A faint sound of a door opening comes from downstairs and his heart races. Almost quiet footsteps progresses up the stairs and then advances down the hallway, before stopping in front of the study’s wooden door.

The knob turns--

\--and Eggsy wakes up. To the same dull-white ceiling. He’s in his bed.

He feels like someone’s punched him in the gut. His eyes sting; he blinks a few times. Then Letting out a shaky breath, Eggsy throws the cover aside and sits up.

He throws his jacket on, grabs the key, and tiptoes out of his home.

 

He walks the same path; passes the same storefronts and buildings; goes up the same set of stairs, and now he’s here again, in this red room—this black chair—trying not to think about what any of this means.

He keeps telling himself that sometimes he just needs to come and sit here, and that doesn’t hurt anybody because he has the key and Harry doesn’t mind.

And even if there’s a tiny part of his heart which believes that maybe if he waits long enough, the one person who he wants to see the most will finally come home, Eggsy doesn’t acknowledge it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Manners maketh man, Harry used to say, and from what Eggsy’s learned during his time with Kingsman, a gentleman always keeps his promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> inspired by [this](http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sljqif)  
> thank you so much for letting me play with your idea. *hugs*

Since the day the bullet did its work, some time has passed; his sister’s got married, Roxy’s become Arthur—the youngest they’ve ever had, and Merlin’s got his peace at last. As for Eggsy, his frontpages have exceeded Harry’s since a few months ago, the key’s always in his right pocket, and he still goes back to that house from time to time.

Eggsy admits it now. He knows Harry’s dead, and he accepts the fact that, deeply and irrationally, he still waits for him. _Manners maketh man_ , Harry used to say, and from what Eggsy’s learned during his time with Kingsman, a gentleman always keeps his promise.

\---

This will be his last mission, Eggsy knows it, and from the looks on his Arthur’s face, Roxy knows it, too. She also knows that she won’t be able to stop him, both because he’s too stubborn, and because she respects the choice he’s made.

Eggsy holds out a hand, and Roxy shakes it, strong and firm like that first one from the day they first met.

Roxy nods, and Eggsy smiles.

\---

His specialised glasses are in pieces, rendering the transmission between him and HQ useless. That's okay. Everything HQ needs, he's already sent. He collects the remnents of what used to be a pair of Kingsman glasses and puts it inside his suit's inner pocket.

Eggsy straightens his jacket sleeves, brushes the wrinkles off his trousers, and starts walking, ignoring the fluid trickling down his burning left thigh and a deep pain inside his chest that's beginning to stain his used-to-be-pristine white shirt with thick, dark liquid.

He gets into the black taxi waiting for him. Sinking into the seat, the warm air inside makes him want to close his eyes for a bit, but he forces himself to stay awake for fear that if he closes them, he may not be able to get them back open.

The taxi stops in front of the familiar two-story white house, and Eggsy stumbles out of the car. He staggers to the black door, the same path he’s walked a thousand times already, leaving a trail of red behind him, unlocks it with a faintly trembling hand, and steps inside. The scent of its owner is not there anymore, and the first time Eggsy realised this, he broke down on his knees. Even if the scent used to make his breathing harder, it is one of the things that belong to Harry and Eggsy cherishes it.

He trudges upstairs and along the hall, and is barely inside the study before collapsing to the carpeted floor. Eggsy coughs and there’s red everywhere and his head is heavy and all he wants to do now is lie down. Instead, he braces himself against the wall and stands up unsteadily, gets another three steps, and then luckily falls down into the chair.

He sits here again, bruised and bloodied, and lets out a shaky breath. The room should be cold because the electricity isn’t on, yet to him it feels warm enough and that’s nice. Eggsy thinks he’s going to fall asleep any minute now, so he hopes—really hopes Harry hurries up and come home already.

His vision blurs, so he closes his eyes. There’s darkness, but Eggsy isn’t afraid.

 

“Eggsy.”

 

Oh.

Eggsy smiles.

He will recognize that voice anywhere.


End file.
